# Moldy Cohibas :(



## Zogg (Aug 31, 2010)

:banghead:

So, i recently switched over to kitty litter.. and i guess the little tray i had it in was a little too high. It was, in theory, not humidifying the bottom tray of my 3 drawer humi and spreading upwards from there, but in fact only going directly up to my little stack of cubans. The top drawer remained about 64-65 while the middle drawer was about 68, the bottom was 65 also.

Because of this, i decided to switch around my humi and move the cubans to the top and leave more NC in the middle, and reduce the humidity a tad so i could have my cubans sitting at 61-63%, and the resdt 65 or so.

Now, my hygros work fine. i have two in there, both are within 1% and i test them regularly vs other hygros and each other.

The problem is, i believe how my air flow was messed up, all the humidity went to my cohibas and then to everything else. so the cohibas were probably above 70 easily.

:brick:

luckily, only 2 are moldy, but both of my bigger ones (i have about 6 total, never smoked one yet)

i also have a dusty (sorta moldy, was next to it.. came off with a single wipe of a cloth.. should i worry about it?) joya de nigaragua (pictured)

heres the pics.

I'm thinking i could use them for a little test... wipe them off and freeze them for a while, and see if they still have mold.
Should i worry about the sticks that were sitting next to these other than wiping them off? its mostly CC trinidads and cohibas that were around these two (they were on the bottom of a 3 deep stack)

pics:

































edit: the first and second cap pics are the two diff sticks, i thinkt he first may be salvageable, but the second actually has a lot of mold. the first is "it may be plume it may be mold" type of mold, but its def mold. lol


----------



## Barefoot (Jun 11, 2010)

I would clean up the infected cigars and try freezing them.
Most importantly I would disinfect the humidor and reseason; that looks like mold on the tray.
Just my thought but humidity in that range should not have caused any mold; it must have been higher.
Good luck and keep us posted.


----------



## asmartbull (Aug 16, 2009)

No need to freeze sticks with mold.
Wipe them off,,,they will be fine.

Sh*T happens,,,at least you caught it.....


----------



## K. Corleon (Jul 22, 2010)

I think you might want to follow Matt's advice on this one, it does look like mold on your tray. I found a little mold on a few of my sticks (NC's in celo, not as much as your mold though) and wiped them off and froze them. Make sure you keep an eye on them.


----------



## JGD (Mar 2, 2009)

Why freeze? That only combats beetles, not mold.


----------



## K. Corleon (Jul 22, 2010)

JGD said:


> Why freeze? That only combats beetles, not mold.


I've read that freezing kills mold...


----------



## asmartbull (Aug 16, 2009)

Mold spores are every where....not worth trying to kill....


----------



## smelvis (Sep 7, 2009)

asmartbull said:


> Mold spores are every where....not worth trying to kill....


I agree I would wipe them off let them air dry and smoke em. Good a reason as any bro to try one out. Like they said it sucks but you caught it!


----------



## Zogg (Aug 31, 2010)

asmartbull said:


> Mold spores are every where....not worth trying to kill....


thats what i was thinking, i took the moldy tray and disinfected it/cleand it out, the problem was with airflow - all my humidification stuff was directly under the 3 moldy cigars.

I'll try brushing them off, my question is moreso that i should be ok wiping/cleaning em off and smoking them?


----------



## asmartbull (Aug 16, 2009)

Zogg said:


> thats what i was thinking, i took the moldy tray and disinfected it/cleand it out, the problem was with airflow - all my humidification stuff was directly under the 3 moldy cigars.
> 
> I'll try brushing them off, my question is moreso that i should be ok wiping/cleaning em off and smoking them?


 YES


----------



## smelvis (Sep 7, 2009)

Yep wipe them off with a lightly dampened cloth or paper towel and let them air dry and smoke away!


----------



## cubanrob19 (Jun 15, 2010)

I had a similar issue not to long ago ... I had a couple of sticks sitting directly below & about 1/4 away from a Xikar Gel brick and some mold similar to what your showing (maybe not aaaas bad) come up on them. 
I ended up wiping them off with everclear and putting them in my portable humi for a couple of weeks for quarantine. then I examined the rest of my stash, didnt find anything, placed then in a temp tuppador for a couple weeks while i aired out the humi, wiped it down with everclear, and re-seasoned. I switched my humidification and had no more issues & no more mold came back on those two sticks, I smoked one and it was fine, and the other is still resting. 

hope that helps ... best of luck!


----------



## Zogg (Aug 31, 2010)

Yup, ive been dry-boxing a torano so i'll smoke the cohiba tomorrow or maybe tonight. It's my birthday sunday, so why not smoke a bunch of cohibas? XD

edit: i wiped em off with a new cheap tooth brush and some slightly wet paper towels. Heres how they look now (you cant even tell, which considering how much mold is on everything.. they're probably same as new, they just have more potential to mold up if i let anything get out of hand again. *shrug*


----------



## TonyBrooklyn (Jan 28, 2010)

_You gotta have some pretty high R/H to grow mold like that and warm air as well._


----------



## Zogg (Aug 31, 2010)

TonyBrooklyn said:


> _You gotta have some pretty high R/H to grow mold like that and warm air as well._


yeah it was only about 69 or so in that room, and my hygros both said about 70. im thinking they got really moist sitting above the beads for two weeks after i switched stuff around.


----------



## Mante (Dec 25, 2009)

Looks like plume to me! LMAO. :woohoo:


----------



## Zogg (Aug 31, 2010)

Tashaz said:


> Looks like plume to me! LMAO. :woohoo:


i feel like cedar doesnt plume XD
(had some mold on the cedar from being near it)


----------



## canuck2099 (Oct 13, 2010)

K. Corleon said:


> I've read that freezing kills mold...


Killing mold is pretty hard because the spores are everywhere and difficult to totally eradicate.

Excess moisture and warmth leads to mold proliferation and as such putting them in a freezer would technically assist in stopping growth ( cold, dry air), however, dry boxing them is going to do the same thing without having to go through the fridge/freezer/fridge/room/humi process. Just my two cents....


----------



## harley33 (Mar 27, 2009)

Good luck. Looks like you caught it before real devastation happened. Only 3 sticks... smoke em and move on to dryer pastures....


----------



## havanajohn (Apr 4, 2009)

I have had great success using Rubbing Alcohol to clean the cigars, and trays.


----------



## socalocmatt (Dec 22, 2010)

Unfortunately mold can grow in low temp and lower humidity. Mold only needs 4 things: air, humidity to sustain molds, temp to sustain molds, an organic substance. The cigar is the organic substace, air is a no-brainer. 

Now the question is about humidity and temp. Mold can grow in lower humidity and lower temp. Last time I clean my fridge out I learned this  

Yes, it is easier to grow mold at a rh over 70% and temps in the mid 70 to 80s but it is by no means required. I got some moldy bread a few weeks ago in my pantry. My house is kept at 72º and the average rh inside is 40%.


----------



## Mante (Dec 25, 2009)

socalocmatt said:


> Unfortunately mold can grow in low temp and lower humidity. Mold only needs 4 things: air, humidity to sustain molds, temp to sustain molds, an organic substance. The cigar is the organic substace, air is a no-brainer.
> 
> Now the question is about humidity and temp. Mold can grow in lower humidity and lower temp. Last time I clean my fridge out I learned this
> 
> Yes, it is easier to grow mold at a rh over 70% and temps in the mid 70 to 80s but it is by no means required. I got some moldy bread a few weeks ago in my pantry. My house is kept at 72º and the average rh inside is 40%.


Indeed I agree Matt. Mold thrives in higher temps & wetter environs but they are by no means necessary for it to take hold.


----------



## Zogg (Aug 31, 2010)

socalocmatt said:


> Unfortunately mold can grow in low temp and lower humidity. Mold only needs 4 things: air, humidity to sustain molds, temp to sustain molds, an organic substance. The cigar is the organic substace, air is a no-brainer.
> 
> Now the question is about humidity and temp. Mold can grow in lower humidity and lower temp. Last time I clean my fridge out I learned this
> 
> Yes, it is easier to grow mold at a rh over 70% and temps in the mid 70 to 80s but it is by no means required. I got some moldy bread a few weeks ago in my pantry. My house is kept at 72º and the average rh inside is 40%.


Yup!


----------

